CPU upgrade on a Chaintech 7VJL board - help needed please!

However, the manual has confused me concerning the capabilities of the board.

Early on, the manual says "Supports 200 / 266 MHz front side bus". This is controlled by Jumper 3 - external clock frequency (100 / 133 MHz). If this is a limitation, it puts the best upgrade at a 2600+ Athlon XP.

Later in the manual, it describes Jumper 31 as being for 1666 Mhz CPU clock. To quote .."This jumper allows user to configure the CPU clock speed to 166 MHz. The external clock frequency (Jumper 3) will automatically disable. " If this is true, it means I can use a faster 333MHz Athlon XP.

Chaintech is out of the motherboard business, so you're lucky to have a manual. I would suggest you stick to what you already know works. Haven't done a search lately, to see if bios support is still available on their website. But the high end socket a cpus are too expensive to invest in an upgrade. I found a 2500 barton at one vender listed at amazon.com. Don't know if it will work on your board. That cpu was $70. It only runs at about 1833 hertz; it was popular for overclocking.

Thanks for the link. The later BIOS text files say what's pasted below. Does the fact that the 2600+ with a FSB of 166 MHz is mentioned specifically mean it's likely that higher speed processors won't work?

No if you look lower you see them mention 2700+ it was a Thoroughbread with 166/333MHzThey might have been meaning 2600+ 166/333 MHz which was a Thorton and came out later, sort of a hybrid between Barton and Thouroughbread.

As for upgrading, it's still a matter of common sense. If it costs $100 for one cpu, you can get a cpu-board combo deal for that. It also depends on what video you'll be using. The bartons do run warm; I tried using an old duron heatsink, and mine overheated and popped some internal leads; went from 512 cache to 256 and 11.5x to 8x multiplier.